- Movie Review: The Apparition
Posted on 25 Aug 2012 in Movies, Movies & TV
In bad horror movies, even women who are supposed to be educated and independent wear very little clothing and turn into complete headcases the moment their men vacate the premises.
- Violence, the Media, and Trying to Process The Dark Knight Rises Shootings
Posted on 20 Jul 2012 in Anthropology, Horror, Movies, Movies & TV, Thrillers, Video Games
How do you process a tragedy like the one that unfolded last night in Aurora, Colorado? Well, at this early time, you don’t. We here at The Fourth Wall won’t pretend to come to any major philosophical revelations as regards the shocking tragedy, but we’ll join the rest of the world in grieving and struggling [...]
- Movie Review: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Posted on 23 Jun 2012 in Movies, Movies & TV
The director’s signature speedy, frenetic zooms punctuate a film that’s smoothly paced and winkingly earnest. The characters perform impossible deeds in stylized slow motion so that we’re too enamored of how cool it looks to care that it’s impossible.
- Mad Men Recap: “The Phantom” (Season 5, Episode 13)
Posted on 12 Jun 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
Don Draper has a rotten tooth that’s causing him immense pain. He refuses to have it extracted. Sounds like a great metaphor for our dapper protagonist, no? Such is the groundwork beneath the season finale. Don wanders through the episode with haunted eyes, asking for ice to cool the evident agony of his aching tooth. [...]
- Mad Men Recap: “Commissions and Fees” (Season 5, Episode 12)
Posted on 05 Jun 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
Well. Did you see that coming? I suppose I did, but it was still a stunner of an episode. A few weeks ago when Lane forged a check to himself, I wrote, “We’ve seen some of our other characters hit rock bottom, but this is Lane Pryce’s miserable rock bottom. Pete and Lane are both [...]
- Movie Review: Snow White and the Huntsman
Posted on 02 Jun 2012 in Movies, Movies & TV
After a kiss reawakens Snow White (though it may not be the kiss you’re expecting, which is slightly obnoxious), she rallies her men with a speech – and I do like Stewart, but this scene is horrible – and rides off to war with them. While previous Snow Whites have been pretty little princesses, this one wears leather pants beneath her skirts and looks “fetching in maille.” It’s one of the movie’s redeeming factors. And who should be the one to defeat the dark queen, but the princess herself? For Stewart, who’s been stuck playing weak, pathetic, husk Bella for years now, the role must’ve seemed a brilliant departure.
- Mad Men Recap: “The Other Woman” (Season 5, Episode 11)
Posted on 29 May 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
I’ve known a lot of men and women who quite simply can’t watch Mad Men. Watching the powerful men on the show mistreat their spouses, lovers, and secretaries week after week proves too much for some people. I’ve always taken a wicked pleasure in watching the women of the show pave the path on which [...]
- Mad Men Recap: “The Christmas Waltz” (Season 5, Episode 10)
Posted on 21 May 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
The Christmas episode of Mad Men always feels strange, as the show airs in spring and summer. Watching the characters wander around chilly, under-saturated New York City streets in heavy wool coats while we on the east coast are breaking out summer linens and shorts is always bizarre. Last night’s episode was exhilarating and melancholy [...]
- Mad Men Recap: “Dark Shadows” (Season 5, Episode 9)
Posted on 14 May 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
This week marks the return of Betty Francis, the wounded whale. Betty, struggling to lose weight, bookended last night’s episode with her strategic consumption. Weiner continued to poke at the plight of the Jews in 1966, and Don’s secret, shameful past is bubbling to the surface without any disturbing effects. There are only four episodes [...]
- Movie Review: Dark Shadows
Posted on 12 May 2012 in Movies, Movies & TV
As Ichabod Crane, as Willy Wonka, Ed Wood, the Mad Hatter, or Sweeney Todd, Depp’s persona is quirky and stiff, wide-eyed and full of suspicion/mischief/barely hidden insanity. The characters into whose skins he slips under Burton’s direction are all beginning to feel suspiciously familiar – and Barnabas Collins isn’t an exception.
- Mad Men Recap: “Lady Lazarus” (Season 5, Episode 8)
Posted on 07 May 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
Can you believe we’re already two-thirds through season five? As Pete’s high school crush said a few episodes ago, “Time feels like it’s speeding up.” In last night’s “Lady Lazarus,” Mad Men‘s cast of characters was forced to visit some unappetizing truths. Pete Campbell developed an unfortunate obsession with a pretty, discontented housewife. Peggy snarked [...]
- Movie Review: The Avengers
Posted on 05 May 2012 in Movies, Movies & TV
Not to compare actors to superheroes, but this cast could easily have exploded in our faces; like their characters, each of these actors is famous in his or her own right. Some are A-list while others hover just below, and it takes a persuasive genius (shall we call Whedon a Nick Fury of sorts?) to gather them and get them to fight for a common cause.
- Mad Men Recap: “At the Codfish Ball” (Season 5, Episode 7)
Posted on 02 May 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
Sunday’s Mad Men was a bit of a doozie, and I’m late to the ball due to a crazy weekend. So here we go. The women of Mad Men are what make the show worthwhile for me – and this was a very lady-centered episode. Particularly, the focus was on mothers and daughters, on seeking [...]
- Mad Men Recap: “Far Away Places” (Season 5, Episode 6)
Posted on 23 Apr 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
In last night’s surreal episode of Mad Men, everybody was taking trips, with or without their loved ones. There’s trouble in paradise with Peggy and Abe, and Peggy’s dancing ever closer to the edge of her patience with being a lady in a man’s world. Roger and Jane take a trip together and come back [...]
- Mad Men Recap: “Signal 30″ (Season 5, Episode 5)
Posted on 16 Apr 2012 in Movies & TV, Television
Pete Campbell is a horrible, smug, insecure creature whose very existence makes everyone at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce just a little bit less civil. A good bit of viewers probably rolled their eyes last night when it became clear this was a Pete episode. It’s a credit to Matthew Weiner and the writing team that [...]
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